Freedom Ring

Freedom Ring

Two thousand eight hundred eighty-two
Nutley sons fought in World War II
bravely boarding the bus
in the parade past the high school
and on off to Fort Dix & beyond.
The grunts in the ditches,
the pilots, navigators & bombardiers in the clouds,
the privates, sergeants and officers, too.
The heroes of north Africa
Sicily, the Boot, D-Day & Guadalcanal
Iwo Jima and so many more places
no one, then or since, ever heard of.
Our Nutley sons fought & many died
to prove that freedom is not free.

The chime, soft and soothing, struck
when each name is read.
Seventeen here – World War I
Twelve there – Korean War
Nine more here – Peacetime Vigilance
Nine there – Vietnam War
Ninety-two here – World War II.
And we remember the
Nutley sons who played on our streets
marched in the high school band
camped as young boy scouts
delivered our newspapers
hit a long, fly ball over the Oval fence
and reached out and caught that touchdown pass.
They played on our streets.
They lived in our houses.
They loved our town.
They let freedom ring.

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Veterans are different from you and me

"For those who have fought for it freedom has a taste the protected will never know"
Engraved on a Vietnam War era Zippo lighter.

When I sat with them, it took me a long time to find a place to sit. I am not a veteran.

These guys were nearly my age, mostly a tad older, Vietnam War vets. I couldn't figure what it was that kept telling me not to sit at this table, or at this table, or even at this table, as I walked the circle of tables set up around the theater in the center of the Vietnam Era Educational Center in Holmdel, N.J.

Korea was called the forgotten war. Vietnam was the let's forget it war. But that's not it for these guys. They seek their own. Who else would understand? No movie can bring justice to the reality.

But here we are with a small piece of war trivia, a simple Zippo lighter, a borrowed collection of them here, in a fitting place, outside the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

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Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.